Our 1st Anniversary

Steve and I celebrated our 1st Anniversary a few weeks ago! We kept it pretty low key because we have planned a trip in January. There is part of me that can't believe we have been married for 1 year... the other part of me feels like I've been with him forever. I am SO happy. Steve makes me as happy today as he did on our first date. I remember when he picked me up for our 1st date...he was so nervous. The main thing I remember about our first date is how comfortable I felt with him. Most first dates can be so awkward but not with Steve. It felt like I had known him forever and it was just like old friends hanging out again. Our first date consisted of dinner at Cafe Rio, Laughing Stock, dessert at Chilis (with his niece and husband who happened to be at the same Laughing Stock show), and a Hug! The next weeks and months we spent a lot of time just being together. Steve would drive to West Valley after work or I would drive to American Fork after work. 6 short weeks after our 1st date we were engaged... yep engaged! I knew after 1 week that I wanted to be with Steve forever but we waited to make it official. We had a lot of fun times together while we were dating/engaged. That period of time brought a lot of stress as well. While we were planning our wedding we were also waiting to receive clearance to be married in the Temple. We are grateful for faith and prayers that helped us to get through that time and made it possible for me to have the wedding of my dreams! About 1 month before our planned date, we received word from the church that clearance had been granted! We have seen so many blessings in our lives since that time. I'm so grateful for perfect timing. I remember often thinking how anyone in this life ever gets married... how is it that you find that perfect person in this big gigantic world to dedicate your life to. All I can say is that everything happens for a reason. At times Steve and I often wish we would have known each other 10 years ago...maybe we wouldn't have had to experience some of the harder times...but obviously our past helps form who we are today. So for that I'm grateful because I know I have the BEST Steve I could have and hopefully he feels like he has the BEST Kim he could have! I look forward to many more years of happiness!

Utah State Fair

We decided to try out the Utah State Fair this year. We were pleasantly surprised with a fun evening. We watched part of the rodeo, checked out all of the animals, watched Zoey and her cousin go on all the kiddie-rides, and ate some yummy fair food. I don't know that I'll be overly excited to return year after year but it was alright. Of course, the best part had to be the people watching...HoLy CoW pEoPlE...put on some clothes! No, it really was a fun night. Here are some pictures:

HOA's pretty much SuCk...

Ok, so I'm supposed to be so happy and excited that Steve and I are celebrating our 1st Anniversary tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I am...and hopefully tomorrow will be the best day ever. But, I have to vent my serious frustrations with my HOA. I came home from work today to find this in my front yard:

They take no consideration on putting things back the way it was when they have to dig up someone's yard to get to the sprinkling system. I also have complained 3 times this year about our landscaping. Here are some photos of our current plants that should surround our home. I counted tonight and 13 of them are completely dead.

So, here is the email I just sent to them:

To Whom It May Concern:

My husband and I live in the new Townhome Community in WVC (i was more specific in the actual letter). I have made at least 3 formal complaints this past spring/summer by phone. On the 3rd request we finally had someone out to fix our sprinkling system. Since then, we have put a lot of work into re-growing our lawn (my husband bought seed to replace it). It was completely dead. Along with several plants on the South side of our home. In late Spring, all of our dead plants were replaced...but as you can see from the attached pictures we have 13 plants that surround our home that are completely dead. Our drip system has never worked properly which has made it very difficult to keep anything alive. My husband has taken pride in repairing our lawn and bushes that he could save, however, I'm completely frustrated wiht the manner in which our landscaping has been taken care of this summer.

To top it off, I came home today from work to find that they had dug up our sprinkling system again...this wouldn't be such a big deal (especially if they were fixing a problem for a neighbor), however, they put the lawn back with dirt clumps spread all over our lawn. They take no pride in putting it back together the way they found it. It is very frustrating when you take pride in your home and your surrounding areas to have it trashed by some individuals hired by you.

Please see all of the attached photos and you will see what I am referring to. I understand that there isn't a whole lot that can be done with regards to the plants as we are approaching Fall/Winter again, but I will complain daily in the Spring if there isn't some attention directed to the area surrounding my home. I will also be voicing my concerns in our planned HOA meting that is taking place later this month.

Thank you for taking the time to "hear" us and we hope that changes can be made in the future to not be this disappointed with our HOA community management.

Sincerely,

So... too soft, too harsh?? What do you think???

Hot Dog Roast in the Canyon

Last night we got together with some friends and went up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We found a campspot to stay for a few hours. We had a hot dog roast, smores, dutch oven cherry cobler, corn on the cob and fun. It was really good to see everyone again...with us all grown up, we don't get together like we use to!

Does your husband ever say...

i think I'll make a pie? Mine does:

Steve made a yummy peach pie one day. Seriously, this guy has skills!

Weekend in Marysvale

Last weekend we spent some time in Marysvale, Utah with some friends. Steve has talked so highly of Marysvale ever since I've known him. I've driven through the town before but didn't know much about it. For those of you who may not know, Marysvale is about 20 miles from Richfield. There are so many 4-wheeling trails. We had such a blast with Jay & Jenn. It has been several years since I have been 4-wheeling and I had a blast. I forgot how much I love doing it. We got there on Friday and had dinner at Hoover's (not Hooters). They had yummy steak. Friday night we went up to the shooting range and played around. I even shot Steve's 22. I'm not much for the other guns but the 22 was pretty fun to shoot. Steve and Jay shot Jay's 300 Magnum (?) and Steve hit the bullseye...so proud. We spent all day on Saturday 4-wheeling! We seriously had so much fun. I LOVED it!! We have decided that one day we would love to have some for ourselves (...someday :) ).

Are you ever so bored...

that you think it would be fabulous to drive to Idaho!? Ok, maybe not, but a few weeks ago Steve and I thought we'd take a short roadtrip to Idaho...mostly to get away and show him some spots of Northern Utah that he had never been to before. We drove up to Malad - picked up a lotto ticket on the way...not winners :( Then came around down through Logan. I showed Steve where I lived and went to school so many years ago (Michelle, if this wasn't such a spur of moment thing we would have said hi). We then had some dinner at the Maddox in Brigham City. I think I may have finally found a place that Steve hadn't been that he absolutely LOVED! I think we may be taking my mom there next week :) A roadtrip wouldn't be complete without our cute Macey. It was a spontaneous Saturday and nice to spend time with Steve.

August 19th marked 11 months...

And my cute husband got me 2 dozen beautiful red roses....

Ah, so sweet! He also knew that I had a really hard week with some restructuring changes at work and this was his sweet way of making me feel better. Something about receiving flowers...it does always make things a little better :)

My cute niece Zoey...

I thought this was a cute picture of my niece Zoey. She's got Gramma's glasses on...

It's hard to believe that this cute little girl is 4 and a half. I am so blessed to have her in my life. Jenn & Ben have truly done an amazing parenting job with this little girl. For the most part she is sweet, adorable, and loving. She cares so much about other people's feelings. I love her!

24th of July Weekend

We had a BLAST this 24th of July. Steve's sister Lora was able to come to Utah from California with 2 of her girls this year. It was so fun seeing them again (it had been over a year since we saw them last!) We had fun swimming, fishing, watching fireworks, going to Liberty Park, swimming some more, sleepovers and more. It was fun to get together several times with Steve's family. Here are several pictures from our events that weekend...

The first day Lora, Kelsie and Katie arrived we went swimming. Cheri and some of her family came down including the little kids - Maxwell and Lexi. All of the kids had a blast being together. After swimming we came back to our house and had "Miller Burgers". If any of you are interested in a new recipe let me know...I am a new fan - so good! After dinner Lora headed to the Kenny Chesney concert with Cheri (LUCKY!). We had the kids over for a sleepover - Kelsie, Katie, Maxwell and Zoey. They had so much fun together.

Katie & Maxwell (best buds holding hands)

Zoey was quickly attached to Lexi - she loves little babies (although Lexi is 2 and a 1/2)

The 4 kids sleeping. They were so good. We turned on Monsters about 9:30pm and we came out to check on them about 11:00 they were all asleep.

On Friday the 24th, we spent more time at the pool. It was such a hot weekend the best thing to do was either stay inside air conditioning (boring!) or go to a pool. That night we went down to Liberty Park. Grandma Donna's house (Steve's sister Cheri's mother-in-law) is right across the street so it makes parking and finding spots to watch the fireworks very easy. The kids (& Lora) had fun blowing bubbles while we waited for the fireworks. We walked over to the park for a little while but it was so CRAZY busy...it was hard to even move around.

Lora & Kelsie

Cute Kaitlyn

Little Lexi - lovin' the bubbles

Lexi, Grandma Donna and Emily

On Saturday we went to Silver Lake (up AF canyon). It was so beautiful. The fish were not biting...could have been the rocks the kids were throwing in the lake that kept them away :) But we all had fun and enjoyed being together.

Lexi

Steve sportin' his new boot...

Lexi loved playing with Macey... and I think Macey liked being outside.

It was such a beautiful day...Steve and I are going to try to get up there again this year...and maybe really catch some fish this time!

Steve hoping some fish will eat the bait...him and Ryan were pretty good sports since the kids wanted to keep throwing rocks in the water.

Kelsie, Lora, Cheri & Emily

So Beautiful!

Cute Lexi again...

It was a HOT day...we loved it when we got a little cloud cover.

Katie & Maxwell playin' in the water...right next to Ryan's line...

We had such a fun weekend with family. We hope next time Lora can bring all 5 of her girls!